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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 23, 2021 at 10:32am

How outdoor pollution affects indoor air quality

If you thought you could head indoors to be safe from the air pollution that plagues your area or city, new research shows that elevated air pollution events  claw their way into indoor spaces.

Researchers found that the amount of air pollution that comes indoors depends on the type of outdoor pollution. Wildfires, fireworks and wintertime inversions all affect indoor air to different degrees.

 During their experiments, researchers found  that in general, the pollution levels inside were about 30% of what they were outside.

That's not surprising because during inversions, only around 20% of the air pollution is what's called primary pollution—the particulate matter that comes directly from combustion exhaust. The rest is secondary—formed as gases undergo chemical reactions under specific meteorological conditions and combine to form solid particulates. As soon as the air comes indoors, those meteorological conditions change.

That changes the chemical environment for these particles and they actually dissociate. That's what we're suspecting is happening when these particles come into the building and that's why we don't observe them.

But still the air is still safer inside than outside.

Daniel Mendoza et al, Long-term analysis of the relationships between indoor and outdoor fine particulate pollution: A case study using research grade sensors, Science of The Total Environment (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145778

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-outdoor-pollution-affects-indoor-air....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 23, 2021 at 10:27am

Unfortunate timing and rate of change may be enough to tip a climat...

Imagine abrupt shifts of the tropical monsoons, reductions in Northern Hemisphere rainfall, and strengthening of North Atlantic storm tracks within decades. These are some of the impacts that climate scientists expect if the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which redistributes heat from equatorial regions to the Northern Hemisphere, suddenly tips into a dormant state as a result of global warming. The consequences would drastically alter conditions for agriculture, biodiversity, and the economy in large parts of the World.

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Drones used to locate dangerous, unplugged oil wells

There are millions of unplugged oil wells in the United States, which pose a serious threat to the environment. Using drones, researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a new method to locate these hard-to-locate and dangerous wells.

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Carpets of moss help stop erosion

Every year, billions of tons of valuable soil are lost worldwide through erosion, much of it deposited in bodies of water that fill with sand or silt as a result. Soil losses measured in Germany range from 1.4 to 3.2 tons per hectare per year; in extreme weather, the figure can be as high as fifty tons. Geoscientists at the University of Tübingen have now shown how biological soil crusts provide a protective layer against erosion. Natural "carpets" of bacteria, mosses, lichens, fungi and other organisms bind soil particles into coherent layers, or crusts.

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Potentially harmful chemicals found in plastic toys

It has long been known that several chemicals used in plastic toys in different parts of the world can be harmful to human health. However, it is difficult for parents to figure out how to avoid plastic toys containing chemicals that may cause possible health risks to their children.

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Environmental policies not always bad for business, study finds Critics claim environmental regulations hurt productivity and profits, but the reality is more nuanced, according to an analysis of environmental policies in China by a pair of Cornell economists. $$

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 23, 2021 at 10:16am

Hedge plant effective at filtering automobile air pollutants

Researchers have found that the Cotoneaster franchetii (also known as Franchet's cotoneaster) hedge plant is effective at filtering automobile air pollutants. In their paper published in the journal Environments, they described experiments that involved testing different types of plants to find out which were best at filtering air pollution next to roadways.

The work is part of a 10-year ongoing research effort meant to better understand which plants might be the most useful in urban settings. They have been testing bushes, trees and shrubs that are commonly planted in urban to see which are the most effective against flooding and air pollution. Over that time span, they have tested a wide variety of hedges to see how well they can soak up air pollution generated by cars and trucks and have found that those with dense canopies and rough and hairy leaves, such as cotoneaster, are the most effective.

The team found that cotoneaster was 20% more effective at pulling pollutants out of the air on busy street sections than any other hedge that they studied. They acknowledge that they found little difference between hedges when testing on streets that did not have much traffic. They suggest this indicates that using different kinds of plants in different areas would make sense, both for home owners and city or town planners. They found that over the course of one week, a single 1-meter-long cotoneaster hedge was able to clean auto pollutants over the course of a 500-mile drive.

Because of its unique abilities, the researchers suggest that homeowners who have property abutting busy street sections plant cotoneaster to reduce the amount of pollution they are inhaling into their lungs every day. City planners could do likewise to reduce overall pollution levels in cities.

Tijana Blanuša et al. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Urban Hedges as Air Pollution Barriers: Importance of Sampling Method, Species Characteristics and Site Location, Environments (2020). DOI: 10.3390/environments7100081

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-hedge-effective-filtering-automobile-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 23, 2021 at 10:11am

Russia detects first case of H5N8 avian flu in humans

Russia said Saturday that its scientists had detected the world's first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu from birds to humans and had alerted the World Health Organization.

scientists at the Vektor laboratory had isolated the strain's genetic material from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak was recorded among the birds in December.

The workers did not suffer any serious health consequences, she added. They are believed to have caught the virus from poultry on the farm.

Information about the world's first case of transmission of the avian flu (H5N8) to humans has already been sent to the World Health Organization. 

There are different subtypes of avian influenza viruses.

While the highly contagious strain H5N8 is lethal for birds, it had never before been reported to have spread to humans.

The discovery of these mutations when the virus has not still acquired an ability to transmit from human to human gives us all, the entire world, time to prepare for possible mutations and react in an adequate and timely fashion.

People can get infected with avian and swine influenza viruses, such as bird flu subtypes A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) and swine flu subtypes such as A(H1N1).

According to the WHO, people usually get infected through direct contact with animals or contaminated environments, and there is no sustained transmission among humans.

H5N1 in people can cause severe illness and has a 60 percent mortality rate.

source: The Lancet

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-russia-case-h5n8-avian-flu.h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 22, 2021 at 10:42am

Novel coronavirus affects male fertility levels: Study

City gynaecologists and fertility experts have found that the novel coronavirus has affected the fertility levels, particularly in men, as a majority of those infected hailed from the reproductive age.

As the body temperature is directly linked to the production of sperm, those suffering from Covid-19 with high fever, are at risk of infertility, though temporary. Fertility experts said fever has an impact on the parameters of sperm, including its motility and count. The worst-hit during the lockdown were the infertile couples as they could not have access to assisted reproductive techniques (ART). Even after relaxation in the lockdown, the access to the ART is limited.

The result of the study was published in the recent issue of ‘The Journal of Reproductive Health and Medicine’.

https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/novel-cor...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 22, 2021 at 10:32am

No more popping pills, now just inhale your antibiotics!

You may not have to pop up azithromycin pills in the future. Instead, you will be able to simply inhale this most common antibiotic drug widely prescribed to treat respiratory tract infections of the nose, throat and lungs.

You may not have to pop up azithromycin pills in the future. Instead, you will be able to simply inhale this most common antibiotic drug widely prescribed to treat respiratory tract infections of the nose, throat and lungs.

Researchers of M S University’s Faculty of Pharmacy have received a patent for their invention of a liposomal dry powder inhaler (LDPI) of azithromycin. This invention will significantly reduce the side effects that the drug causes to people who consume it currently in pill form.

Azithromycin is a widely prescribed drug for the treatment of respiratory tract infections. But as the drug enters the stomach and blood, it causes a number of side effects. There has always been a demand for a formulation that can help the drug reach its target organ — the organ where the bacteria that is causing respiratory infection resides — without causing side effects.

The team developed the new formulation by encapsulating azithromycin within liposomes (used as a carrier), converting it into a dry powder by freeze-drying and filling it in capsules. Patients can easily take drug doses through dry powder inhalers.
The liposomal dry powder was evaluated using various in-vitro and animal studies. The in-vivo studies done on rats showed that the liposomes are retained in the lungs for a prolonged period of up to 12 hours with lesser presence in blood.

“These liposomes slowly released the loaded azithromycin into the lungs and thus avoided the exposure of the drug to stomach or blood. This helps in building local drug concentrations required for maximizing effectiveness and minimizing side effects.

https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/no-more-p...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 22, 2021 at 10:17am

Electronics free, air-powered robot

Engineers have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 22, 2021 at 10:14am

Dancing DNA

Dancing DNA

This video allows us to see, for the first time, how small circles of DNA adopt dance-like movements inside a cell. Being able to observe DNA in such detail could help to accelerate the development of new gene therapies.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 22, 2021 at 10:09am

Lab-grown 'mini-bile ducts' used to repair human livers in regenerative medicine first

The research paves the way for cell therapies to treat liver disease – in other words, growing ‘mini-bile ducts’ in the lab as replacement parts that can be used to restore a patient’s own liver to health – or to repair damaged organ donor livers, so that they can still be used for transplantation.

Bile ducts act as the liver’s waste disposal system, and malfunctioning bile ducts are behind a third of adult and 70 per cent of children’s liver transplantations, with no alternative treatments. There is currently a shortage of liver donors: This means that only a limited number of patients can benefit from this therapy.

Approaches to increase organ availability or provide an alternative to whole organ transplantation are urgently needed. Cell-based therapies could provide an advantageous alternative. However, the development of these new therapies is often impaired and delayed by the lack of an appropriate model to test their safety and efficacy in humans before embarking in clinical trials.

Now, in a study published in Science, scientists have developed a new approach that takes advantage of a recent ‘perfusion system’ that can be used to maintain donated organs outside the body. Using this technology, they demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to transplant biliary cells grown in the lab known as cholangiocytes into damaged human livers to repair them. As proof-of-principle for their method, they repaired livers deemed unsuitable for transplantation due to bile duct damage. This approach could be applied to a diversity of organs and diseases to accelerate the clinical application of cell-based therapy.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6531/839

https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/lab-grown-mini-bile-ducts-used-t...

https://researchnews.cc/news/5261/Lab-grown--mini-bile-ducts--used-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 22, 2021 at 10:02am

Common agricultural pesticide may be putting hummingbirds at risk: U of T study

Hummingbirds need an incredible amount of energy to flap their wings 50 times per second to maintain hovering flight. Their metabolism is so supercharged that if they were human-sized they would consume energy at a rate more than 10 times that of an Olympic marathon runner. But a new University of Toronto study has found that a common agricultural pesticide, which is related to nicotine in tobacco and  might be slowing down the crucial physiological process  that makes hummingbirds so unique upto 25% in the hours after exposure.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82470-3

https://www.utoronto.ca/news/common-agricultural-pesticide-may-be-p...

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